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PCRM Challenges Dairy Industry Calcium Summit

The dairy industry needed a shot in the arm. It had been getting bad press from studies linking milk consumption to prostate cancer, heart disease, type 1 diabetes, and many other health problems.

So, the National Dairy Council spared no expense in putting on Calcium Summit II, inviting researchers, government officials, reporters, and editors to a huge push for calcium. But, after PCRM got the word out to health reporters and editors that the "Summit" was not a scientific meeting but an industry-funded milk promotion, many decided to skip the event. Organizers found fewer than 200 attendees in the 600-seat auditorium. Those who did attend may have been surprised to receive a free copy of CalciYum!, a beautiful book of non-dairy recipes by David and Rachelle Bronfman, delivered by PCRM staffers on-site.

PCRM also used the occasion to host a press conference unveiling its new ad, "Milk: It's not all it's cracked up to be." As a result, the press did not provide the glowing endorsement the industry was looking for. Instead, the CBS Evening News and many other news outlets reported on the controversy over dairy product consumption's links to health problems.